Election Emergency Budget

Posted by Joanne Ryan Mp on May 13, 2015

I rise this morning to speak about the government's budget. The first budget exposed the big lies told to the electorate by those opposite to get the big jobs, to get government. They promised no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no changes to pensions. It clearly demonstrates that they would say anything to win the election and that then they would renege. This second Abbott-Hockey budget shows us they will do anything to keep their jobs. Last year, they justified backflips on election commitments claiming a budget emergency, a debt and deficit emergency, after they cravenly doubled the deficit. This year, it is an election emergency, an exercise in craven hypocrisy. And it fails the integrity test, it fails the fairness test, it fails the futures test. It fails this government's own test. It gives us more tax, more debt and deficit, more spending and higher unemployment. This budget clearly shows a desperate government abandoning its promises again. It outlines spending greater than savings. After months of defending its cruel budget's slashing of spending and demanding Labor outline savings, it has rejected Labor's sensible savings policies.

What will it mean in my community, for the residents of Lalor? Well, the fundamental unfairness of last year's budget remains. Cuts to family payments remain that will reduce family incomes by up to $6,000 a year for many Lalor families. Cuts to hospitals and schools remain—$80 billion of cuts. In Victoria in health alone, $13.6 billion in cuts. And $100,000 degrees remain that will hurt the young people in my electorate seeking to further their education. In my community, where youth unemployment is already too high, high unemployment is outlined in this budget.

What is the new bad news? There are cuts to the dental program where families are already waiting for children to get the dental care they need, and cuts to the existing PPL program that will leave mothers with less time at home with their babies and/or less money. And the new early childcare and education measures spruiked by Minister Morrison across the past few weeks appear to be a cruel delusion. Yes, they appear in the budget papers to come into effect in 2017—beyond budget 3, beyond the next election. With a government that is proving sorely hard to trust, I would not be banking my house on those measures coming into play.